Assignment

On
Introduction Community Health Nursing
Sub: Community Health Nursing

Submitted By,

Name: Aklima Akter Ranu

ID: 202511007

Roll: 07

Course: BSc in Post Basic Nursing

Batch: 4th

Submitted To

Mamotaz Begum (Principal, MNC)

MSt. MOnowara BEgum

MST. LAilatul Laizo

MSt. NAsrin KHAtun

 Submitted on 16.05.2025
Community Definition: " Community is a social group
withal a common territorial base; those in the group
share interests and have a sense of belonging to the
group". [1]
Component of Community: A community resulting
from the combination of the
 Environment
 People
 Quality life
 Economics
 Health
 Culture [2]

Types of Community: On the basis of geographical

surroundings and socio-cultural characteristics it is
divided into three
1. Rural
2. Urban
3. Tribal [3]

Characteristics of a Community:
According to World Health Organization Expert
Committee, a community is a social group having
following characteristics:
1. Determined by geographical boundaries.
2. Common values and interests.
3. Its members know and interact with each other.
4. It functions within a particular social structure and
exhibits and creates certain norms, values and social
institutions.
5. It always keep in changing [4]

Functions of a Community: The basic functions of the

community might be summarized in the order
1. To determine the use of space for living and other
purposes.
2. To make available the means of production and
distribution of necessary goods and services.
3. To protect and conserve the health, life, resources and
property of individuals.
4. To educate and acculturate newcomers, i.e., children
and immigrants.
5. To transmit information, ideas and beliefs.
6. To provide opportunities for interaction between
individuals and group. [5]

Health Definition:
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines
health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and
social well-being and not merely the absence of disease
or infirmity". [6]

Models of Health: These are ' conceptual frameworks

or ways of thinking about health.
A. Clinical Model (Dunn, 1961):
Dunn defined, in this model, “health as a relatively
passive state of freedom from illness, and a condition of
relative homeostasis.” Illness is therefore, something
that happens to a person.
B. Host –Agent – Environment Model (Leavell,
1965)
This model Helps to identify the cause of an illness.
In this model health and illness depends on the
interaction of agent, host and environment.

C. Health Belief Model : ( Rosenatock,1974,as

modified by Stone 1991) : There is a relationship
between a person's belief and actions based on factual
information, misinformation, common sense or myths
or reality or false expectation that influence can be
positive or negative.
D. High-Level Wellness Model( Dunn, 1961) :
Dunn described high level wellness as the experience of
the person alive with the glow of good health, alive to
the tips of their fingers with energy to burn, tingling
with vitality – at times like this the world is a glorious
place.

E. Holistic Health Model:

Holism is a different approach to health is that
acknowledges and respects the interaction of a person’s
mind, body and spirit within the environment. [7]
Community Health: According to WHO, Community
health refers to the health status of the members of the
community to the problems affecting their health and to
the totality of health of health care provided for the
community. [8]
Importance of Community Health:
1. Improved access to care
2. Disease Prevention
3. Healthy Equity
4. Economic benefits
5. Better overall quality of life. [9]

Key Components of Community Health:

1. Health Education – Teaching people about the
importance of preventive care, healthy habits,
and disease management empowers them to
take control of their health I.e. community
health programs, school health programs.

2. Healthcare Access- Health education won’t be

effective if people don’t have access to
healthcare services for available and affordable
healthcare facilities I.e. mobile clinics, local
health centre and telemedicine.
 3. Community Involvement – Successful
community health programs will not be
possible without participation of the people it
serves like community leaders.

4. Social Support System- Communities are often

a person’s greatest support system,
strengthening socialites can improve mental
and emotional health that adopt individuals to
healthier lifestyles. [10]

Challenge in Community Health: Despite its many

benefits, community health faces several obstacles as
follows
 Limited Funding
 Access Disparities
 Cultural barriers
 Mental Health Stigma [11]
How to improve Community Health:
So, how do we improve community health? Here are a
few ideas:
1. Increase Health Literacy
2. Strengthen healthcare infrastructure
3. Encourage Community Engagement
4. Focus on prevention
5. Address mental health [12]

Community Health Nurse:

A community health nurse is a person who works in
collaboration with families and groups in identifying
their health problems and nursing needs in determining
nursing care plans, in mobilizing appropriate
community resources and in evaluating the nursing
services. [13]

Nurses Roles in providing Community Health

Nursing:

1. Care Provider- Community health nurse provides

care for different issues of health and diseases to
entire family, group of people or even the
community at large.
2. Health Educator- Community health nurse puts
great emphasis on people to gain health knowledge,
modify health attitude, health behaviour so that
they become self dependent, self reliant in dealing
their health matters.

3. Willing Advocator- The community health nurse,

as an effective advocate, needs to possess qualities
i.e. risk taking behaviour assertiveness,
communicability, resources fullness.

4. Adviser – The community health nurse, as an

adviser, suggests and advises on situations that
need immediate actions and where there is little to
no scope of health education.

5. Counselor- As a Counselor, community health

nurse, helps patients with emotional and
psychological problems i.e. depression, anxiety

6. Sensitized Observer- Community health nurse

observes lifestyle and environmental conditions of
people. Thus he/she reacts and take necessary
actions.

7. Organizer and Manager:- Community health nurse

manages health care of family, school, community
or specific programme or project. The community
health nurse involves in overall planning of
 community health care or in planning of any
specific programme for any particular group.

8. Decision maker and participator:

Community health nurses play a crucial role as
decision-makers in promoting and maintaining the
health of individuals, families, and community.
Community Health Nurses participate in community
planning by conducting health assessments to identify
community needs and collaborating with local
stakeholders to develop and implement health
initiatives. They also advocate for policies that promote
public health and provide health education to empower
the community. Their involvement ensures that health
plans are comprehensive, data-driven, and tailored to
the community's unique needs. [14]

Community Health Nursing:

According to WHO Expert Committee, “Community

Health Nursing / Public Health Nursing combines the
skills of nursing, public health and some phases of
social assistance and function as a part of total public
health program for the promotion of health,
improvement of conditions in social and physical
environment, prevention of illness, disability and
rehabilitation”. [15]
Characteristics of Community Health Nursing:

Six important characteristics of community health

nursing are particularly salient to the practice of this
specialty.

 It is a specialty field of nursing

 Its practice combines public health with
nursing
 It is population focused
 It emphasizes on wellness and other than
disease or illness.
 It involves inter-collaboration
 It promotes client's responsibility and self-care.
[16]
Scopes
· Rural areas and slums of cities.
· Special clinics.
· Mobile camps.
· Health centres.
· Schools.
· Industrial organisations.
· OPD departments of big hospitals.
· Fairs and places of social functions/gathering.
· Rural and poor urban families etc. [17]
Goals and Objectives of Community Health
Nursing:

 To assess the need and priorities of vulnerable

group like pregnant mother, children and old age
persons.
 To provide health care services at every level of
community.
 To make community diagnosis
 To evaluate the health programs and make further
plans.
 To prevent disabilities and providing rehabilitation
services.
 To provide referral services at various health care
level.
 To increase life expectancy
 To enhance the standard of nursing profession
through
 Conducting Nursing Research
 Provide quality assurance in
community health nursing.
 Performing the role of a nurse
epidemiologist. [18]

Principles of Community Health Nursing:

 Health services should be based on the needs of
individuals and the community.
 It should be suitable to the budget, workers and
resources.
 It should be equally available to all without any
discrimination of age, sex, caste religion, political
learning and social or economic level etc.
 It should be provided continuously, without any
interruption.
 Preparation and maintenance of records and reports
is very important in Community Health Nursing.
 Community Health nurses and other health workers
should be guided and supervised by highly
educated and skilled professionals.
 Community Health Nurse
 Responsible for professional
development
 Continuously received in service
training and continuing education
 Should follow professional ethics and
standards in her/his work and
behaviour.
 Should have job satisfaction

 Must have effective team spirit while working in

the community
 Timely evaluation in must for community services.
[19]
Bibliography:

[1] Ref- Robert Stebbins; Sociologist, The Study of

Society, Harper & Row, New York, 1987.
[2][Link]
Components-of-a-Community
[3] [Link]
community/250945184
[4][Link]
WHO_TRS_558.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
[5] Community Health Nursing; 2nd ed; BT
Basavapanthappa; Jaypee;
[7] Community Health Nursing; Mengistu Daniel,
Misganaw Equlinet; EPHTI; 2006;p-
[8][Link]
9789380704395/ch1
[13]
[Link]
9380704395/ch1
[15][Link]
philosophy-aims-objectives-concepts-scope-principles-
functions-of-community-health-nursing
[16] Ref- Community Health Nursing; Daniel
Mengistu, Equlinet Misganaw; EPHTI;2006; P-19